


Counting Days

by VisionaryGalaxy



Series: The Symphony of Our Catastrophe [10]
Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Drabble, Erik gets a bit dark here, Erik has Issues, Erik-centric, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, M/M, X-Men: First Class (2011)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 16:35:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19360663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VisionaryGalaxy/pseuds/VisionaryGalaxy
Summary: Erik contemplates what his life will look like after Shaw. He imagines him and Charles making the world a better place for mutant-kind, in his own way.





	Counting Days

   Erik stood on the front steps of the mansion, staring at the trees and their turning leaves. Already they had begun to float down into clumps, covering the carpet of grass. The sight left him with an itch, irritable and unsettled.

   It was getting worse with each day that passed.

   Erik wasn’t used to staying in once place for longer then a couple weeks. They had been at the mansion for nearly three months now, training, preparing, yet still so idle. He yearned to be out there, actively looked for Shaw, the coin burning a hole in his pocket.

   With the CIA it had been tolerable. He and Charles went on their recruitment trips nearly every week and at least that felt like he was doing something, actively seeking out weapons he could employ against Shaw.

   Of course, things weren’t like that anymore. Maybe that had something to do with his growing restlessness. The mission had always been straight forward, no distractions. Revenge against a man who lived the definition of brutality.

   It grated on him that he hadn’t noticed the change.

   Charles was the source of his newfound confusion. Bright blue eyes had saved him with a promise he’d never thought he’d hear again. You’re not alone.

   Since then, Erik found himself sinking further and further into a world that he knew held no place for him. The children, as they were collected, became not weapons but people whose safety fell under his charge, all because Charles’s well-meaning empathy was contagious, and he liked to see him smile.

   Charles himself, whom Erik had pegged as a trump card against Shaw, especially since discovering he had a telepath of his own, quickly proved to be so much more then a tool he could wield like his metal.

   Charles was wickedly smart, dangerously optimistic, and subtly manipulative in a way that had Erik entranced by the man. Despite his comfortable cardigans and manicured nails speaking of wealth and privilege, he too bore scars. Erik knew he did, had seen them during innumerable hotel trysts in shadowed rooms.

   They, like the man himself, was a bit of a conundrum. Charles knew what evils lurked in men’s minds more intimately then anyone, had played witness to Erik’s trauma and yet…he believed so fiercely in good that it only served to confuse him more.

   And yet for all that, all their differences and understandings of the world, Erik found himself standing on these front steps and not contemplating running off on his own. It should be his first instinct and it was, but a second, stronger one battled against his will, the one that made him want to stay because the man he was rapidly falling in love was just inside.

   The door behind him opened and Erik tensed automatically, only to relax a moment later at the familiar brush across his mind.

   “What are you doing out here?” Charles asked, coming to stand next to him and offering a familiar beige coat.

   Erik took it and slipped it on, not because it was cold, but because Charles was giving it to him, “I needed some space to breathe.”

   That earned him a wry smile, “yes the children have been rather excitable today.”

   Erik didn’t protest the assumption, instead snagging one of Charles’s hands in his own. Affection never used to come easy to him and he supposed it still didn’t. Touching Charles, however, was no burden, not since these elegant fingers had pulled him from the freezing depths of the ocean.

   Charles moved closer of his own volition, pressing against his side and staring out at the plain grounds. No more questions were asked though Erik knew Charles must have many of them spinning around in his head, he always did.

   This subject on the other hand, was one they both tended to avoid.

   The truth was, Erik wasn’t completely sure what waited for him on the other side of Shaw. There had never been one, just the satisfaction of revenge, perhaps a few more men who deserved killing, maybe even a small home far out in the woods where he’d never be bothered by humanity again.

   He had never imagined the possibilities of the man beside him. Charles wasn’t something anyone could see coming New fantasies had been rising up these past few days, the way Charles made him stronger than ever, the way these children had suffered, inspiring him towards a new purpose.

   Erik turned his head to press a kiss into Charles’s hair. He stilled under the touch, not used to such a public display, they liked to keep their affection behind closed doors, easier to avoid explanations and complications neither of them wanted to deal with. Right now, Erik couldn’t help it, seeing that future rise up before his eyes like a tidal wave.

   They hadn’t discussed it, not properly.

   For now, the goal had been recruiting for the first CIA mutant team, but Erik was sure with some convincing Charles would see things his way. Even with Shaw dead, the world was filled with humans that would kill them without a single thought, just because they were different.

   Together, with the children, they would be able to put a stop to it, one way or another.

   “Are you alright?” Charles murmured, glancing up at him with furrowed brows. “You feel…I don’t know…determined, emotional?

    Erik chucked lowly, released Charles hand only to wrap his arm around that trim waist, “I’m good. Better then I’ve been in awhile actually, thanks to you.”

   Charles shook his head, looked away, “I can’t take all the credit Erik. I can only make suggestions, its up to you to take them. How has the practicing been going?”

   “Good, the satellite is easier than ever.”

   The pleased expression on Charles’s face betrayed his supposedly humble demeanor. It was alright, Erik wanted Charles to be proud of his accomplishment, wanted to give him the world if it was possible.

   He was, after all, starting to think it just might be.


End file.
